Lions Municipal Golf Course has been a part of Austin for almost 100 years as the city’s oldest and most beloved public course. “Muny” is a treasured urban green space and was recently recognized as a nationally significant civil rights historical site as the first public course in the South to racially integrate. But Austin is in danger of losing this invaluable property to development.Save Muny has worked since 1973 to preserve Lions Municipal Golf Course as an inclusive, affordable place for all Austinites to enjoy the game of golf and the outdoors. With public events and outreach campaigns, the Save Muny initiative continues to demonstrate the course's intrinsic value to the Austin community and has helped to negotiate three lease extensions with the City of Austin.

Based on the course’s compelling role in the civil rights movement and in Texas golf history, the property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. Save Muny remains a key stakeholder group in the dialogue between the University of Texas and the City of Austin, seeking to negotiate a mutually beneficial solution for preservation of Muny as an 18-hole municipal course.

Today, Lions Municipal Golf Course is:

Since 1924, a beloved natural green space amid a developing city

Host for almost 70,000 rounds of golf each year, on average

An attraction for local and regional golfers, with fewer than 14% of players residing in the same zip code as Muny

A practice course for more than 20 Austin area middle and high school golf teams

A perennial location for University Interscholastic League tournaments, having hosted hundreds of schools from across Texas

Host to more tournaments and charity events than any of the city’s other public golf courses

A civil rights historical site

A local treasure in the legacy of Texas golf

A 141-acre wildlife sanctuary and water recharge zone

Home to hundreds of protected heritage trees

Lions Golf Course in the near future could:

Remain the most popular and scenic public course in Austin

Enhance quality of life for all Austinites as an affordable, central recreation opportunity

Offer a world-class municipal course with restoration led by local golf legend and acclaimed course designer Ben Crenshaw

Have a new clubhouse with a public restaurant and event space

Be open to the public as a park on designated days

Enhance the value of future development projects on surrounding land

A bulldozed and developed Muny would mean:

The loss of the only 18-hole public golf course in central Austin

Demolition of priceless green space in an increasingly dense urban area

The permanent loss of a civil rights landmark and National Register of Historic Places site

The culling of hundreds of protected heritage trees

That taxpayer funds would be collected to support decades of construction work in central Austin

Thousands of additional vehicles in the neighborhoods around Muny in perpetuity

The end of a public place that has been part of Austin’s fabric for more than half of the city’s lifetime

Was Lions Municipal Golf Course really the very first course in the South to desegregate?Yes. Extensive research based on archival records and first-hand accounts from Austin residents indicates that Muny was the first desegregated golf course in the South. The desegregation occurred when two African-American youths walked on to the course and were permitted to play a round in 1950 – more than three years before the racial integration of schools and other public facilities was mandated by Brown v. Board of Education. Thereafter African-American golfers from across the state traveled to play the course. These historical events unfolded without formal litigation or protest from the Austin community, in contrast to responses in many other cities to the desegregation of public facilities.

Has Muny been officially recognized as the first desegregated course in the South?Yes, the course has been recognized as a landmark for civil rights history by multiple individuals and organizations:

Ben Crenshaw, two-time Masters Champion and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame;

Marvin Dawkins, Professor of Sociology, University of Miami, co-author of African American Golfers during the Jim Crow Era (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000);

Lane Demas, Associate Professor of History, Central Michigan, The Game of Privilege: An African American History of Golf (under contract, University of North Carolina Press, John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture);

Glenda Gilmore, the C. Vann Woodward Chair in History at Yale University;

Renea Hicks, prominent constitutional and civil rights lawyer and former Solicitor, Office of the Attorney General, State of Texas;

Jacqueline Jones, Chair of the History Department and Walter Prescott Webb Chair in History at the University of Texas, Austin;

Sanford Levinson, W. St. John Garwood Chair at the University of Texas Law School and prominent constitutional scholar;

What is the role of Lions Municipal Golf Course in the Austin community today?Muny is the most beloved and frequently played municipal course in Austin, hosting more than 72,000 rounds annually. Muny hosts numerous local tournaments including the annual (since 1946) Firecracker Open, programs for junior golfers such as First Tee, annual UIL tournaments, community events, and fundraisers.

When does the city of Austin's lease of the golf course expire?In 2011, the UT Board of Regents voted to allow the lease for the city-operated course to expire in May 2019.

What would the development of Muny mean for central Austin?Commercial development of Lions Municipal Golf Course would mean the loss of 141 acres of central urban green space, including hundreds of protected heritage trees. All of Austin’s citizens have access to the game of golf with Muny’s central location and affordable course fees. The course and clubhouse host local tournaments including the annual (since 1946) Firecracker Open, programs for junior golfers such as First Tee, annual UIL tournaments, community events, and fundraisers.